EU election candidates: Full list for your area and the biggest names to watch

They’re the elections that were never meant to happen.

On Thursday 23 May, millions of Brits will go to the polls in the European Parliament elections – two months after we were supposed to leave the EU.

The drama around Brexit has encouraged many larger-than-life characters to come out of the woodwork and stand for the 73 seats up for grabs.

Those who win will enjoy an MEP’s salary of 105,092 Euros per year plus generous travel and office allowances – until Brexit happens, and they’re booted out of the Parlaiment.

So who is standing and who will you get to pick from in your area? Here are some of the big faces putting themselves forward, plus full lists (so far) of who is standing where.

 

How do the elections work?

On Thursday 23 May, millions of UK voters will elect 73 MEPs to sit in the European Parliament – until Brexit happens.

The elections were not meant to happen but have been forced on the UK after Theresa May agreed to delay Brexit until October 31.

Voting is divided into large regions of the country, with each selecting between 3 and 10 MEPs using a form of proportional representation.

Seats in each region are allotted to each party depending on what share of the regional vote they received.

So if the Tories win three seats in South East England, the highest three candidates on the Tory ‘list’ become MEPs.

The actual ‘D’Hondt system’ for deciding which party gets which number of seats is very complicated.

In each region, the party with the most votes gets the first seat; then its total is divided by two and the party with the most votes in the second round gets the second seat. The process is repeated via a complex formula until all seats have been dished out.

If you’re into that sort of thing there’s a full explainer here.

 

Who will win the EU elections?

The Tories are expected to receive a hammering from Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which has never faced an election before but contains many UKIP defector MEPs.

Change UK (also known as The Independent Group) will be trying to scoop up the anti-Brexit vote in what is this group’s first ballot box test too.

Those fringe movements could hit both Labour and the Tories hard, especially because (a) the seats are chosen through a form of proportional representation, and (b) EU elections were previously ripe for protest votes.

In the last elections in 2014, UKIP won 24 seats; Labour won 20; the Tories won 19 and the Greens won 3.

 

The biggest characters who are standing

Nigel Farage

Nigel Farage will be leading the charge for his new Brexit Party, which despite only just setting up has enjoyed polling numbers in the mid-teens.

Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson and Labour peer Maurice Glasman have warned the elite elite-basher poses a serious threat to Labour.

He vowed to “put the fear of God into our MPs –  they deserve nothing less” in comments that led to accusations he was making dog-whistle threats.

Lord Buckethead

The comedy character is back after becoming a viral internet sensation when he stood against Theresa May in 2017.

This time he is planning to stand against Nigel Farage in South East England.Because he is not part of a list he will need to outstrip the might of the big parties to get elected.

But he has been boosted by more than £15,000 in crowdfunding – three times what he needed for his £5,000 deposit.

Andrew Adonis

The former minister prompted raised eyebrows when he announced he would be standing for Labour – as second choice for the South West Region.

The arch-Remain peer is most definitely not following Jeremy Corbyn’s official line on Brexit.

He wants to cancel our leaving the EU – saying Brexit “can and should be stopped”.

Steve Bray

The man who has yelled “stop Brexit” at Parliament every sitting day for the last 18 months is standing for the European Parliament.

Steve Bray, known locally as the “Stop Brexit Guy”, began protesting in Westminster in September 2017, wearing a blue and yellow hat and draped in a Union Flag cape.

He started as a lone voice, shouting at the seat of democracy once a day.

But as time has gone on, and anti-Brexit sentiment has swelled, so has his group of screaming Remainers, hurling an increasingly lengthy stream of invective at the Palace.

 

Carl Benjamin

The UKIP candidate refused to apologise for saying he “wouldn’t even rape” Labour MP Jess Phillips.

The 39-year-old who styles himself ‘Sargon of Akkad’ even doubled down, saying his comments were justified because she’d been a “giant bitch”.

In combative exchanges, Mr Benjamin – who is second on UKIP’s South West regional list – told journalists: “I’m not answering your questions, I’m not apologising for anything, you dirty, dirty smear merchants.”

Laura Parker

The left-winger – fourth on Labour’s London list – is the most senior woman in the pro-Corbyn group Momentum.

That means she is a power player in the party’s factional battle between a softer Brexit, none at all, or a second referendum.

“If we were staring down the barrel of a no-deal gun, I personally would like to be asked what I thought about that,” she told the BBC last year.

Eloise Todd

Eyebrows were also raised when the chief of an anti-Brexit group was selected to run for Labour.

Eloise Todd – the CEO of second referendum campaign group Best For Britain – will run as second on the list for Labour in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Gerard Batten

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Annunziata Rees-Mogg

Jacob Rees-Mogg’s SISTER was announced as one of the first candidates for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg – a former Tory candidate who joined the Conservatives at the age of five – is a privately-educated fox hunting supporter once worked on the Brexiteer journal of Tory MP Bill Cash.

The 40-year-old and her brother Jacob are both hard Brexiteers and were among five children of late newspaper editor William Rees-Mogg.

She stood for the Tories aged just 26 in Aberavon, before falling out with the leadership when she stood again in Somerton and Frome in 2010.

David Cameron had suggested she refer to herself as ‘Nancy Mogg’ – because her own name sounded too posh – but she refused.

Mark Meechan

A YouTuber who was fined £800 after filming a pug giving a Nazi salute is standing in the European elections for Ukip.

Mark Meechan, 31, who styles himself as Count Dankula on the internet, said he would stand to represent Scotland in the EU.

He was handed the fine for recording his girlfriend’s pet dog, Buddha, responding to statements such as “gas the Jews” and “Sieg Heil” by raising its paw.

He was found guilty of breaching the Communications Act by posting material that was “grossly offensive” and “anti-Semitic and racist in nature”, in an offence aggravated by religious prejudice, following a trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court in April last year.

He repeatedly refused to pay the fine but had the money seized from his bank account by court officials earlier this year.

Katy Clark

Ex-MP Katy Clark is a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn as the former political secretary to the Labour leader.

She was shunted up to third place in the coveted London list for Labour MEP candidates after a reported battle between factions in the party.

As an ally of Labour’s leader she may introduce a sceptic note among other, far more wildly pro-EU candidates on the party’s list.

Martin Mayer

The Labour candidate shot to prominence after saying he “regrets” branding anti-Semitism claims a “smear” to undermine Jeremy Corbyn.

Martin Mayer faced anger after an e-mail he sent in 2016 emerged with the title: “How Israel lobby manufactured UK Labour party’s anti-Semitism crisis.”

Euan Philipps of the Labour Against Anti-Semitism group said Mr Mayer’s views “have no place in British democracy”.

Yet Labour sources defended his conduct, saying his remarks “are from a few years ago” and “were not made in the current context”.

As the fifth candidate on a six-strong list in Yorkshire and the Humber, it is almost impossible that he will win enough votes to become an MEP.

 

Full list of candidates so far

NOTE: These lists are currently incomplete as final lists are only due to be released on Friday 26 April. This story will be updated at that stage.

Currently our information comes from sources including the parties themselves and (for the Tories) ConservativeHome.

Candidates for each party are listed in order of seniority on the list. The closer to the front of the list they are the more likely they’ll be elected.

Change UK and the Brexit Party were due to unveil further candidates throughout the week.

East Midlands Region

Labour: Rory Palmer, Leonie Mathers, Tony Tinley, Nicolle Ndiweni, Gary Godden

Conservative: Emma McClarkin, Rupert Matthews, Anthony Harper, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Thomas Randall

UKIP: Alan Graves Snr, Marietta King, Anil Bhatti, Fran Loi, Cllr John Evans

Lib Dems: Bill Newton Dunn, Michael Mullaney, Lucy Care, Suzanna Austin, Caroline Kenyon

Eastern Region

Labour: Alex Mayer, Chris Vince, Sharon Taylor, Alvin Shum, Anna Smith, Adam Scott, Javeria Hussain

Conservative: Geoffrey Van Orden CBE, John Flack, Joe Rich, Thomas McLaren, Joel Charles, Wassim Mughal, Thomas Smith

UKIP: Stuart Agnew, Paul Oakley, Liz Jones, William Ashpole, Alan Graves Jnr, John Wallace, John Whitby

Lib Dems: Barbara Gibson, Lucy Nethsingha, Fionna Tod, Stephen Robinson, Sandy Walkington, Marie Goldman, Julia Ewart

London Region

Labour: Claude Moraes, Seb Dance, Katy Clark, Laura Parker, Murad Qureshi, Taranjit Chana, James Beckles, Sanchia Alasia

Conservative: Syed Kamall, Dr Charles Tannock, Joy Morrissey, Timothy Barnes, Scott Pattenden, Attic Rahman, Kirsty Finlayson, Luke Parker

UKIP: Gerard Batten, Richard Braine, Peter Muswell, Freddy Vachha, Peter McIlvenna, Robert Stephenson, John Poynton, Ronie Johnson

Lib Dems: Irina Von Wiese, Dinesh Dhamija, Luisa Porritt, Jonathan Fryer, Hussain Khan, Helen Cross, Graham Colley, Rabina Khan

North East Region

Labour: Judith Kirton-Darling, Paul Brannen, Clare Penny-Evans

Conservative: Richard Lawrie, Chris Galley, Duncan Crute

UKIP: Richard Elvin, Chris Gallacher, Alan Breeze

Lib Dems: Fiona Hall, Julie Porksen, Aidan King

North West Region

Labour: Theresa Mary Griffin, Julie Carolyn Ward, Wajid Iltaf Khan, Erica Lewis, David Brennan, Claire Cozler, Saf Ismail, Yvonne Tennant

Conservative: Sajjad Karim, Kevin Beaty, Jane Howard, Arnold Saunders, Wendy Maisey, Thomas Lord, Anthony Pickles, Attika Choudhary

UKIP: Adam Richardson, Jeff Armstrong, Fiona Mills, Nate Rydings, Michael Felse, Ben Fryer, John Booker, Alan Craig

Lib Dems: Chris Davies, Jane Brophy, Helen Foster Grime, Anna Fryer, Sam Al-Hamdani, Rebecca Forrest, John Studholme, Frederick Van Mierlo

Scotland

SNP: (Not in order of rank yet) Alyn Smith, Margaret Ferrier, Alex Kerr, Christian Allard, Aileen McLeod, and Heather Anderson

Labour: David Martin, Jayne Baxter, Craig Miller, Amy Lee Fraioli, Callum O’Dwyer, Angela Bretherton

Conservative: Nosheena Mobarik, Iain McGill, Cllr Shona Haslam, Cllr Iain Whyte, Andrea Gee, Michael Kusznir

UKIP: Donald MacKay, Janice MacKay, Otto Inglis, Mark Meechan, Roy Hill

South East Region

Labour: John Howarth, Cathy Shutt, Arran Neathey, Emma Turnball, Rohit Dasgupta, Amy Fowler, Duncan Enright, Lubna Arshad, Simon Burgess, Rachael Ward

Conservative: Daniel Hannan, Nirj Deva DL, Richard Robinson, Michael Whiting, Juliette Ash, Anna Firth, Adrian Pepper, Clarence Mitchell, Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky, Caroline Newton

Brexit Party: Nigel Farage (unconfirmed)

UKIP: Piers Wauchope, Liz Phillips, Daryll Pitcher, Toby Brothers, Tony Gould, Clive Egan, Troy De Leon, Alan Stone, Judy Moore, Pat Mountain

Lib Dems: Catherine Bearder, Anthony Hook, Judith Bunting, Martin Tod, Liz Leffman, Chris Bowers, Giles Goodall, Ruvi Ziegler, Nick Perry, John Vincent

South West Region

Labour: Clare Moody, Andrew Adonis, Jayne Kirkham, Neil Guild, Yvonne Atkinson, Sadik Al Hassan

Conservative: Ashley Fox, James Mustoe, Faye Purbrick, Claire Hiscott, James Taghdissian, Emmeline Owens

UKIP: Lawrence Webb, Carl Benjamin, Tony McIntyre, Lester Taylor, Stephen Lee, Richard Wright

Lib Dems: Caroline Voaden, Martin Horwood, Stephen Williams, Eleanor Rylance, David Chalmers

Wales

Plaid Cymru: Jill Evans, Carmen Smith, Patrick McGuinness, Ioan Bellin

Labour: Jackie Jones, Matthew Dorrance, Mary Wimbury, Mark Whitcutt

Conservative: Dan Boucher, Craig Lawton, Fay Jones, Tomos Davies

UKIP: Kris Hicks, Keith Edwards, Tom Harrison, Robert McNeil-Wilson

Lib Dems: Sam Bennett, Donna Lalek, Alistair Cameron, Andrew Parkhurst, Jason Edwards

West Midlands Region

Labour: Neena Gill, Siôn Simon, Julia Buckley, Ansar Ali Khan, Zarah Sultana, Samuel Hennessy, Liz Clements

Conservative: Anthea McIntyre, Daniel Dalton, Suzanne Webb, Meirion Jenkins, Alexander Phillips, Mary Noone, Ahmed Ejaz

UKIP: Ernie Warrender, Paul Williams, Graham Eardley, Paul Allen, Nigel Ely, Joe Smyth, Derek Bennett

Lib Dems: Phil Bennion, Ade Adeyemo, Jeanie Falconer, Jenny Wilkinson, Jennifer Gray, Lee Dargue, Beverley Nielsen

Yorkshire & the Humber

Labour: Richard Corbett, Eloise Todd, Mohammed Jawad Khan, Jayne Allport, Martin Mayer, Alison Hume

Conservative: John Procter, Amjad Bashir, Michael Naughton, Andrew Lee, Matthew Freckleton, Susan Pascoe

UKIP: Mike Hookem, Gary Shores, John Hancock, David Dews, Graham Waddicar, Cliff Parsons

Lib Dems: Shaffaq Mohammed, Rosina Robson, James Blanchard, Sophie Thornton, James Baker, Ruth Coleman-Taylor